Post Scene to No More, Forever
by Mulderette
Summary: Doc's friends try to cope after his breakdown.


Post Scene to No More, Forever (1/1)  
  
Email: lynne1919@aol.com  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero. I wish they were mine but unfortunately they're not.  
  
Spoilers: Through No More, Forever  
  
Summary: Doc's friends try to cope after his breakdown.  
  
Note: Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything and I'm woefully behind on reading as well. Real life has just gotten in the way big-time lately and finding the time to read and write just hasn't happened. I apologize for the stories that I've left incomplete. I still do plan to work on them and hopefully it won't be too long before I do. In any case, this one came into my head today and at the very least, it's complete ;)  
  
******  
  
"That was quite a chance you took tonight," Swersky remarked to Sully who was on his way out of the precinct house.   
  
"I had to do it, boss," Sully replied, pausing at the front desk. "It's just...I've known him for a long time...I couldn't just let them shoot him. I needed to do something..."   
  
Swersky nodded. "I'm glad that no one else had to get hurt. Hopefully Doc will get the help he needs."   
  
"Yeah...hopefully he will," Sully said gruffly as he continued on his way. He stepped outside and zippered up his jacket to ward against the cold night air, then started walking across the parking lot. He had just reached his car when he heard a familiar voice calling him.   
  
"Hey Sul, wait up," Ty called, trotting up to his partner. "I saw Swersky talking to you. Everything okay?"   
  
"Yeah, everything's fine," Sully said as he turned towards Ty.   
  
"Good, that's good," Ty said, nodding. "So...where are you going?"   
  
"Where am I going?" Sully asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm going home, Davis. Where do you think I'm going?"   
  
  
  
Ty shrugged. "I don't know, Sul. I just thought...maybe you felt like going out, getting something to eat. Maybe we could, you know, talk or something."   
  
Sully shook his head. For once he could honestly say he was not in the least bit hungry. "No thanks, Davis. I'm not really hungry."   
  
Ty hesitated, a worried expression on his face. "You want to come over my place for a while? We could watch some t.v. or just hang out."   
  
Sully sighed wearily. "Ty, I really am okay. I admit it was a lousy day, but its over with now. If you're worried about me going off and drinking or something, it isn't going to happen."   
  
Ty shook his head quickly. "No, no Sul... It's not that. It's just. I don't know... I mean, Carlos is going to be home. I sort of thought that maybe it would be good if you were there too. I don't really even know what to say to him..."   
  
"It's not like Carlos and I are close or anything..."   
  
"I know that, but it still might help if you were there, Sul. Couldn't you come over? Just for a little while?"   
  
"Yeah okay I can come. Just for a while though," Sully relented. Ty didn't ask him for much. It wouldn't hurt him to go over there just for a little while and then he could go home and get some much needed rest.   
  
******   
  
Ty glanced at his partner, who was sitting on the couch, and then back at his watch. Sully had barely said a word since he had arrived and Carlos wasn't home yet.   
  
"You want something to eat?" Ty asked.   
  
"No, thanks." Sully shook his head, holding back his urge to snap how many times did he have to say he wasn't hungry.   
  
"How about coffee? You want some tea?"   
  
"Yeah, fine. I'll have some tea." Anything to keep Ty occupied for a few minutes.   
  
He knew he was just trying to be helpful, but frankly he really would have preferred to have been alone with his thoughts after all that had happened. He still couldn't believe it. Doc... Out of all the people that he knew, he never would have expected Doc to be the one person to snap. Bosco maybe, but not Doc. He had been acting sort of oddly lately, but for this to have happened... He couldn't even begin to imagine the torment that the man had been going through.   
  
"Here you go, Sul..." Sully came out of his thoughts and forced a faint smile on his face as he accepted the cup of tea. "Thanks."   
  
"You're welcome." Ty took a seat and reached for the remote control to the television set, once again wondering when Carlos was going to arrive home. "You want to watch something?" Ty turned on the television set, but immediately flicked it off again when he heard the front door to his apartment open. "Carlos, is that you?" he called.   
  
"Yeah, it's me. Why? Were you expecting someone else?" Carlos called back as he made his way into the living room then gave Sully a look of surprise when he saw him there. "Hey, Sully. How's it going?"   
  
"I'm okay. How are you doing?"   
  
"Fine," Carlos replied unconvincingly. He flopped into a chair and brushed his hand back through his hair. "Doc's at Bellevue." He leaned his head back against the top of the chair and looked up at the ceiling, fighting to control his emotions. "He wouldn't say anything to me...wouldn't even look at me..."   
  
Ty opened his mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come and he looked to his partner, hoping he would have something to say.   
  
"It's not you, Carlos," Sully said quietly. "Doc's problems have nothing to do with you..."   
  
"I know that. Don't you think I know that?" Carlos snapped. The anger left him as abruptly as it had arisen though and he looked back at Sully apologetically. "Sorry, Sully."   
  
"It's all right," Sully replied, a look of sympathy in his eyes. It was easy to see that Carlos was beating himself up over this. Sully glanced over at Ty, remembering all too well the self-blame he had carried when his partner got shot, when Tatianna had been killed, all the way back to when Ty's dad had been killed...so much guilt... It wore you down, made it harder and harder to get through the day. He was finally beginning to come to terms with it, but it had taken a long time and he'd had to go through hell to reach this point. He still was taking it one day at a time, but at least now, he had his good days intermixed with the bad.   
  
"You want some tea?" Ty asked, feeling awkward just to be in the room with them. He had no idea what to say. His only function seemed to be offering food and drinks.   
  
Carlos shook his head. "No...thanks." He still couldn't even begin to understand what had happened today. How had it gotten to this point? Doc had shot a man. Doc had threatened all of them with a gun, had aimed a gun at Carlos' head. He kept replaying it all in his mind, like a continuous movie reel that just played over and over again. "He wasn't acting like himself...not for a long time. We all knew it, but, we...I didn't do anything about it..."   
  
"It isn't your fault," Sully said.   
  
"Isn't it?" Carlos asked softly, his eyes full of emotion. "It never should have gotten to that point... I should have done -something-..."   
  
Sully shook his head. "It was Doc... Your mind just doesn't go there." He thought back to the night of Doc's party, when Doc had been practically forcing him and Ty to accept his records. They'd thought it was odd, but then they'd just put it out of their minds. People in your life just seemed to assume certain roles and there were certain things that you expected from them. Even though Doc had been having his problems, he supposed they had just expected that eventually they'd go away, that things would get better again and Doc would be back to his old self. Unfortunately, that hadn't been the case.   
  
"That's just not good enough," Carlos replied. Sure, maybe for Sully that was true. But Sully didn't know Doc the way he did. With all his training, with all the things he had seen in the field, Carlos knew he should have seen the signs. They'd been there, right in front of him, yet he hadn't seen them...or he hadn't wanted to see them and now...now Doc's life was in shambles and Carlos couldn't help but feel guilty about that.   
  
"It has to be good enough," Sully said. "It's all you have right now, Carlos. Blaming yourself isn't going to help him. Being there for him...that's what will help. He needs us now...more than he ever did before." Doc had come through for him...more than once. He'd been there that day in the cabin in the woods and he'd been there that other fateful day... so many years ago... Doc had been there for Sully and now Sully would return the favor. He would stand by Doc, no matter how long it took.   
  
Carlos nodded, but deep down inside, he just couldn't agree with what Sully was saying. Yes, he would be there for Doc now. He would do whatever he could do to help him, but it didn't lessen his responsibility for what had happened. In his heart, he couldn't help but feel that he should have seen this coming. He should have been a better friend. He looked at Sully and then at Ty, both of them sitting there, looking at him with such compassion in their eyes. They were feeling bad for him, but he didn't want that. He didn't deserve it. "Listen guys...I don't want to be rude, but I'm really wiped. I 'm going to hit the sack," Carlos said as he got to his feet.   
  
"You take care of yourself," Sully said, nodding understandingly. "If there's anything I can do..."   
  
"Yeah, yeah, I'll let you know, thanks, Sully."   
  
"Let me know if you need anything," Ty said to his roommate.   
  
"I will...goodnight." Carlos forced a semi-smile onto his lips and then quickly left the living room, shutting himself away in his bedroom.   
  
"This isn't going to be easy for him," Ty commented after a few moments of uneasy silence.   
  
"No...no it's not." Sully picked up the cup of tea and took a sip, then placed it back down on the coffee table. "You know...Doc was there...he was there the night your dad was killed..." He spoke the words so softly they were barely audible, but Ty heard him.   
  
"He was?" Ty asked, taking a few moments to digest that. "I didn't know..."   
  
"Yeah..." Sully replied, letting his thoughts travel back in time to that night. It had all happened so long ago, but even now, so many years later, each detail was etched in his mind, whenever he remembered that night. "He and his partner did everything they could...but...it was all over before they even arrived on the scene. A part of me knew that he was gone, but, I kept hoping that there would be some miracle, that your dad would open his eyes and he'd be okay. Then Doc said that he was sorry... I totally lost it, broke down and cried in his arms like a baby." Sully's eyes welled at the memory and he hastily swiped his arm over his face.   
  
"Sul? You okay?"   
  
Sully nodded. "Yeah. It's just...tonight is bringing a lot of stuff back, you know? What happened with your dad, that day in the cabin... Today's just been rough." He leaned back into the couch, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly exhausted by all that had transpired. All he wanted to do right then was sleep.   
  
"Why don't you stay here tonight?" Ty suggested softly, noting how wiped out Sully looked. "You can stay in my room."   
  
Sully shook his head and smiled back at Ty. "I'll stay here, Ty, but out here, on the couch." He patted the couch lightly. "This couch and I are old friends."   
  
"Okay... I'll go get you some blankets." Ty headed out of the room and a few minutes later came back with some blankets and a pillow. "Is there anything else you need?"   
  
"No. This is fine. Thanks..." As much as he had wanted to be alone earlier, Sully now realized he was glad that he wasn't. "I'll see you in the morning. Maybe we can grab some breakfast somewhere. Carlos too."   
  
"Yeah, definitely." Ty waited for Sully to settle down with the pillow and blankets and then turned off the living room light. "G'night, Sul."  
  
"Good night, Ty." Sully burrowed down underneath the covers and allowed his eyes to close, then eventually drifted off into a peaceful sleep. 


End file.
